michael levy, salt spring island, bc

After closing my darkroom in 2006, I have been waiting patiently for an opportunity to begin printing my own photographic work once again. In the fall of 2013 I purchased an archival printer and prepared numerous files for printing once I had space to set up my computer, the printer and a presentation space.

My brother Geoffrey is a lithographic printer by training (hand printing from stone) but has been unable to print since he experienced kidney failure over 12 years ago. I managed to clean his studio out enough to make it possible for both of us to work in our chosen mediums if and when he is able to get back to work once more.

A bright, clean 400 square foot space is more than adequate for the work that I am currently undertaking...a welcome change from my claustrophobic dark room!

Watch for print pricing & availability through my website in the coming months. In the mean time, if there are any images you are interested in, please email me at mslevy@flatearthphoto.com

I was fortunate enough to have some help hanging a group of framed photos at Barb’s Bakery & Bistro for the month of December. Sometimes having an extra pair of eyes (or two!) can make a big difference in how a show is hung.

I haven’t had a solo show for quite a number of years and it was an interesting challenge to have to look through an incredible amount of photos from the past year and choose just a handful to print & frame for this show. In the end I believe that the series came about in a very organic fashion mostly to do with a recent fascination with time and space and how I am able to catch each photographically. Time…we see so much each day and most of what we see happens in less than a second…fleeting by so that we are lucky to even capture a glimpse! This is especially true of the hummingbirds that frequent our garden flitting quickly from flower to flower they are barely visible unless you happen to be quick & you catch them on their rounds! With a camera and a high shutter speed I can stop them in their journey and take a closer look at these beautiful birds. I decided to print each bird in monochromes so that the form would be more prominent without the distraction of the background colours of the garden.

The sap that is slowly dripping from a huge, old-growth fir tree captures time & space in its own fashion: the bubbles in each drip act as a magnifier for the environment around the tree. The sap captures time in much the same way as amber…a slowing down of whatever is embedded inside that we can examine much, much later.

My studies of Honeysuckle blooms play with our spatial concept os a garden and what we find there. By effectively eliminating the background (high contrast, B&W), the blooms appear to hang in space as they might in a pre-arranged studio setting. The fact that these blooms exist as they are in our garden and that they can be isolated so effectively through photographic techniques is fascinating to me…it gives me such a different perspective on very familiar, day to day objects that surround me.

I hope that you can make it down to Barb’s to see the photos while they are still up on the walls. I think that you will find it to be a real treat! I’d also appreciate hearing what any of you have to say about the show,